I've been trying to 'finish' this almost all week but it seems to have taken on a life of it's own so I'm going to split it up, I think there'll be 3 chapters in total. I'd love to know what you think
"Iain" Rita said softly as she walked into the living room where he was watching the early morning news with a cuppa before work.
"Yeah?" He didn't look up from the TV.
"I erm, I'm late"
Iain frowned, "no you're not, we've got more than half an hour before we've got to leave, that's plenty of time."
"I don't mean for work" Rita sighed, "I mean my period. I'm late."
Iain flicked off the tv and turned to face Rita, "you're pregnant?" She shrugged, "how late are you?"
Rita shrugged again, "I've never really been regular enough to give you an exact date but I should have come on sometime last week."
"Have you done a test or…?"
"No" Rita looked down fiddling with her fingers, "No, I...no."
"Hey" Iain noticed how Rita's hands were shaking and he stood up, holding his arms out, "come here."
She nervously walked over to him, not sure how he was going to react to the news, she flinched slightly as he stepped closer to her but she needn't have worried, he wrapped his arms around her and sat back down, pulling her to sit on his lap, "I'm sorry" she whispered, burying her head against Iain's chest as she began to sob, "I'm so sorry Iain."
"Hey" Iain kissed Rita's forehead as he held her close and gently rubbed circles on her back, "what are you apologising for?"
"Everything" Rita whispered, "I should have been more careful, I should have…"
"Hey, no" Iain interrupted her, "we should have been more careful, if you are pregnant then you didn't do it on your own, this is as much my fault, as much my responsibility as it is yours."
"But I'm on the pill."
"Have you missed any?" Rita shook her head, "then it's not your fault, we both know the pill isn't 100% effective, you can't help that. If I didn't trust you to take it then I'd have suggested we use condoms too but…" he shrugged, "it's just one of those things, if you're to blame because your pill's failed then I'm equally to blame for not using a condom."
"You, you're not angry with me?" Rita whispered into Iain's chest.
"Of course not" Iain kissed her head, "why would I be?" Rita said nothing, keeping her head hidden against his chest, "Rita Darlin' talk to me."
"I erm, I got pregnant before" she confessed, "when I was with Mark."
"Oh Rita" he sighed before cautiously asking, "what happened, you don't need to tell me if you'd rather not" he said quickly.
"He didn't want a baby" Rita whispered, "so erm, I, I had an abortion. I, I'll get rid of this one too if you want me to."
"What do you want?" Iain asked, getting the impression Rita didn't really get a choice last time.
"What?" Rita frowned.
"If you're pregnant" Iain asked softly, "what would you want to do?"
"I don't, I don't know" Rita whispered.
"Okay" Iain kissed her head, "why don't we wait and see if you're pregnant before we start to worry about anything."
"What would you want to do?" She asked, her voice shaking.
Iain shrugged, "it would be your decision" he told her, "whatever you wanted to do I'd support you, if you wanted to keep it I'd be there every step of the way but if you think it's too soon, not the right time, whatever, then I'd understand and I'd support you through that too."
"Do you, do you want kids?" Rita asked softly, her head still nuzzled against Iain..
"Yeah, I think I would, I didn't used to but I think I'd just not found the person I wanted them with."
"I don't…"
"I want to have a family Rita, but I want to have that with you. It doesn't have to be now though, if you are pregnant and you don't feel like now's the right time then we don't have to do it now. I'm not… I won't force you into anything Reet, if you are pregnant then we can talk about things as much as you like and I'll give you my opinions if you want them but the final decision will be yours and I will support you and be there for you no matter what you choose." He said before cautiously asking, "do you want a family?"
Rita nodded, "I erm, when I got pregnant with Mark, I, I wanted to… but he didn't so…" she shrugged slightly, her eyes filling with tears again as she thought back to what she'd done, "I don't know if I could do that again Iain."
"Hey" he kissed her head and gently rubbed her back, "you won't have to Darling, not if you don't want to, it's your body and it's your choice yeah, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, I'll get you a test later and we can find out for sure tonight."
"Thank you" Rita whispered.
"What for?"
"For, for being so understanding, for not being angry."
"I could never be angry with you Darling" Iain said before kissing Rita's head and wiping at her tears, "and you've done nothing wrong okay, if, if you are pregnant then we'll deal with it, I won't leave, I won't shout or scream and I certainly won't force you to have an abortion. I love you Rita alright? As far as I'm concerned this is it for me, me and you, baby or no baby, I'm not going anywhere."
"I love you" Rita whispered.
Iain smiled softly, he could feel Rita's tears seeping through his t shirt and it broke his heart to know she was so upset about something that was partly his fault, "I love you too Reet." They sat in silence for a while, Iain doing his best to comfort Rita before he looked up at the clock and swore, "you go and sort yourself out" he told Rita, dropping another kiss to her forehead, I'll change my top and then I'll drive us in."
"Drive, I don't…" Rita frowned, they were only a 15 minute walk from the hospital, they never drove to work.
"Look at the time" Iain told her, "if we don't get a wriggle on you won't be the only one that's late" he joked, kissing Rita a final time, "don't worry about a thing, whatever happens we'll be okay" he told her before going in search of a clean tshirt, Rita heading into the bathroom to redo her makeup, she only hoped Iain was right.